Fat Joe has gotten wrapped up in his fair share of feuds throughout his career, and according to him, it didn't come without a cost. During a recent installment of Complex's Sneaker Shopping, he revealed that he lost deals with Air Jordan and Reebok thanks to his beef with 50 Cent and Jay-Z in the mid-2000s.
According to him, his heated run-in with Fif at the 2005 MTV VMA’s left Michael Jordan unwilling to collaborate with him. “Yo, Big Joe, you know, I’m not with controversy. Maybe we look at this in the future," the athlete reportedly told him over the phone.
As for his deal with Reebok, he says it would have earned him millions of dollars, but that it fell through after an executive realized he wasn't on good terms with Jay-Z.
Fat Joe Lawsuit
“Reebok had approached me and was like, ‘Yo, we want to do a sneaker with you for millions.’ I caught the squeeze play cause Hov was over there and 50 Cent," he explained. “They shut it down. They was just like, ‘Yo, we won’t do business with you if you give this guy a sneaker.’ That’s part of the karma. It’s part of the ins and outs. I’ve done it to other guys. It came back to me.”
Beef isn't all that's come at a cost for Fat Joe, however. He's also in the midst of a legal battle with his former hype-man Terrance Dixon, who hit him with a $20 million lawsuit in June. In the suit, Dixon alleges that he witnessed the rapper take part in various illegal activities. Allegedly, this includes sleeping with minors, engaging in intimidation tactics, and more.
Fat Joe has since denied the allegations, proclaiming his innocence in a statement shared on social media. "I've never let anyone on the streets extort me, so how would I ever let a crooked attorney and a coward ex-hype man extort me??" it reads in part. "I'm from the Bronx!"
